The Prerequisite Heart
by Leanne Ash
Summary: A collection of Sasuke x Sakura short stories. Drabbles document the in-betweens, the behind-the-scenes, and those little things. They're not together yet, but they're far from being apart.
1. A Skilled Matchmaker, Naruto Wasn't

**A Skilled Matchmaker, Naruto Wasn't**

 **Prompt:** matchmaker  
 **Summary:** Naruto has noticed a change in the way Sasuke sees Sakura

* * *

The vast canvas of cerulean mapped out the perfect escape. Limitless, everlasting, and without obstruction. The way out for a daydreamer, albeit a temporary one.

Sasuke Uchiha encouraged himself to concentrate on a foreign pastime: staring at the sky above. These were the little things he had forgotten to do growing up. Not that it was hard. At that moment he couldn't understand what the big deal was and although he masked it well, he was secretly glad to be pulled from the ridiculous practice by his best friend, Naruto.

A sharp slap to Sasuke's risen knee was all his mind needed to snap from the tranquility above to the boisterous monstrosity below.

"This is the most I've seen you relax ever," teased Naruto, who plopped unceremoniously to the grass beside him.

"What do you want?" Sasuke grumbled, using his one arm to shield the sky from view.

"Sakura-chan's worried about you."

The dark-haired boy begrudgingly sat upright, oddly stirred by the mention of her name. "She doesn't need to be."

"Well," Naruto began with a knowing roll of his eyes, "You've been back a few weeks now. All you've been doing until they give you missions is this back-to-nature shit where you stare at sunsets and smell the roses."

Sasuke kept his eyes averted, adjusting the black cloak around his shoulders. "Weren't you the one who told me to 'relax' and 'enjoy the little things' for a while?"

"Yeah," the blonde shrugged, "but I meant connect with the things that were good for you." He paused. "Are you avoiding Sakura-chan?"

The conversation at hand oddly felt like foreign territory for Sasuke. Like he couldn't talk about connecting. Like he couldn't talk about Sakura.

Naruto remained nonplussed, casually stretching his arms while silently evaluating his friend. Prolonged silence from Sasuke was an answer all its own. The man before him was an open book with torn out pages.

"Why don't you go talk to her?" Naruto pushed. "She's been asking about you since you've been back. She just wants to know that you're okay."

An annoyed growl escaped the Uchiha. "Stop trying to be a matchmaker, Dobe."

The blonde appeared indignant. "I wasn't!"

Sasuke stood. Tired of relaxing. Tired of being confused. Tired of wondering why he went out of his way to avoid the things that made him feel…

"And I wouldn't. Sakura-chan'll be back from her date in a few hours."

Black eyes widened marginally, sliding slowly to the annoying blonde boy at his peripheral. Her… _WHAT_.

"…And I'm pretty sure she'll be home all night after that. You should go see her then, you know?"

The pull of an unpleasant coil began its slow, cranking movement in the pit of Sasuke's stomach. Another foreign entity. What was with this moment and every day experiences that just weren't clicking right. And with this new, innocent factoid of Sakura doing what she had every right to do, Sasuke found himself suddenly needing an exorbitant amount of information concerning the man she was with.

A skilled matchmaker, Naruto wasn't. A cheeky manipulator, well, that was closer. Sakura didn't have a date, of course. She was working at the hospital far too often to give her suitors the time of day. But Naruto knew, after Sasuke had returned to Konoha, after his gaze lingered on Sakura after she smiled and welcomed him home with open arms, that something had shifted in their dynamic.

Sasuke Uchiha was aloof. He was hard to find most days, but he never went out of his way to avoid someone. And he certainly never took the blonde's advice on how to pass the time.

Naruto could see now, that the casual fib of Sakura's whereabouts had struck a chord. Fine. Whatever it took to get this guy started on the road to emotional normalcy.

As the gears moved in the Uchiha's head at proficient speed, his exterior gave off only the smallest tell-tale frown in response. The automated answers came easily, lining at the front gate waiting for permission. They were as easy as, _No._ _Fine. Maybe I will._ or _What a waste of time._

What Sakura did with her life was none of Sasuke's business. This was hard-coded into his brain, programmed into his persona, though seemingly ignored by his reflexes.

"So," Naruto pried again. "Are you going to?"

What escaped the Uchiha's mouth surprised them both.

" _Who is it._ "

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I love that Sasuke and Sakura are canon. I'm not a huge fan of the way things concluded at the end of Gaiden to be honest. The dinner table scene kind of freaked me out. Or perhaps the concept of Sarada freaks me out because I want to know more about the "courting" phase before Sarada happened. This is why I've decided to participate (to the best of my ability) to this year's SasuSakuMonth creative prompt challenge. This is how I see things going down. Don't read anymore if it's not agreeing with you. I want to be very clear that this is MY preferred version of Sasuke - bad, rude, and probably a beast in bed. Rar! Follow me on tumblr (rooftoptabby) for the live updates.


	2. The Lecture

**The Lecture**

 **Prompt:** no filter  
 **Summary:** A man confesses his love to Sakura. And another interrupts.

* * *

"I thought I was dying. You cried for me and– I've been thinking differently about some things."

Sakura's eyes frowned in confusion. "Kiba…"

Brown, straggly hair and tattooed features stalked closer in earnest and she became frantically aware that he was backing her up against the wall. Her instincts tingled; this was not a situation she could stay calmly in without some effort.

"Do you love me, Sakura?"

 _Oh no…_

Her chin tilted slightly as her eyes pleaded with him to stop. She couldn't, wouldn't, lie. Of course she loved Kiba. She loved him like a brother. He had looked out for her since day one. He offered jabs and snide remarks when she needed it and pats on the back when she thought she didn't deserve it. They had always been friends, but just friends. And in that moment, she didn't know how to tell him how special he was to her while breaking his heart at the same time.

"I do," she answered quietly. "You're one of my best friends."

The category seemed to bite Kiba internally as there was no missing the slight wince in his eyes. His hand rose tentatively to touch Sakura's jawline, fingers ghosting alongside her neck in a manner so whispered it surprised her. "Could you… can you love me more than a friend?"

She couldn't help the sudden guilty knit of her eyebrows. Her vision blurred as hot tears filmed her eyes without shedding. The desperate way he was looking at her, the soft pleading in his eyes, the earnest in his voice… she wanted to lie as different emotions warred in her head. She wanted to protect his heart. Protect it the way no one had protected hers when Sasuke tossed it over his shoulder so it could shatter across the pavement. But a lie would do more damage than good. She couldn't be selfish. She had to rip a hole in his heart now or risk smashing it to pieces later. She had to be fair.

"No," Sakura answered evenly, and she could feel the tremor of her heart cracking down the middle. "I'm sorry, Kiba. I'm so sorry…"

The gentle hand on her neck suddenly went taut.

"You can't just say no…" Kiba practically growled. "You can't, Sakura. I love you. You can't say no when you don't even know what you're saying it to."

"Kiba–" she began softly, but he had already taken advantage of the slight parting of her lips. He swallowed her protests, slashing his mouth against hers and shoving her petite frame against the wall in an act of raw desperation.

Both of his hands were at the sides of her neck as he used the weight of his body to keep her pinned in place.

She thought hard on what to do. He was acting recklessly in order to convince her by force. Kiba loved her, and that heart-wrenching thought alone kept her from kneeing him in the groin and slamming him to the ground for his trespassing action.

"Kiba–!" she pleaded, when her lips were able to escape a small fraction. "Stop!" She attempted to wrench him off without hurting him but he continued to grip her like a wild animal. " _Stop_!" she repeated.

Kiba was off in a second, having been jerked back violently by the shoulder and slammed face-first into the adjacent wall by a certain dark haired boy's savage grip.

"She said stop," Sasuke Uchiha said darkly as he glared into the back of Kiba's head, twisting painfully on the boy's arm.

"Get off me!" the other boy snarled in discomfort. The prodigy merely pushed harder in response.

Sakura was stunned momentarily; her upper body remained stiff, arms still upright as if Kiba still gripped her jawline. "S-Sasuke-kun…" she stammered at first, as she blinked herself back to reality. Alarm bells rang quickly at the sight before her and she immediately pitched forward to pull on Sasuke's arm. "Wait, don't hurt him! You don't understand!"

"I saw what he did."

Sasuke's deep, authoritative voice was maintaining control, but fury was clearly chipping at the edges like fraying silk.

"It's fine," Sakura argued. "Let him go!"

Tilting his head a fraction to regard Sakura with disdain, Sasuke stepped back and dropped the restraining hold on the other boy without arguing.

Kiba jerked away from the both of them, face flushed with embarrassment. He glared darkly at Sasuke as he adjusted the collar of his jacket and quickly turned to leave.

"Kiba…" Sakura began.

"Fuck you both," Kiba snapped angrily.

Sakura's green eyes widened with horror at the palpable resentment. "Wait!" she pleaded tearfully as she stepped forward to follow him. She was halted quickly as Sasuke's arm shot out across her middle to barricade her.

"Don't," the Uchiha ordered lowly as he pressed her backward.

Sakura looked up at him in confusion and then desperately back at Kiba who had already disappeared around the corner.

She wiped the tears from her eyes in frustration and shoved Sasuke's arm out of her way, a recoiling gesture she would've never imagined using against him. "Why did you do that, Sasuke-kun?!"

She heard the growl of annoyance before she felt a grip around her elbow that dragged her backwards.

"Hey–! What the hell is your problem!?" Sakura demanded.

" _YOU_ are!" Sasuke snarled back as he sent her slamming back up against the wall Kiba had pinned her to. The filtering grip the boy usually held on his words all but demolished before her eyes. Sakura gasped as the wind was knocked out of her and barely registered him gripping her upper arm to drag her a foot off the ground.

Green eyes hardened. Sakura's knee instinctively rose to hit the taller man hard in the chest, and much to her surprise, he sustained the hit with a grunt and released her back to the ground without a subsequent fight.

"There _._ Was that so fucking hard?" Sasuke taunted bitterly.

"W-What are you talking about?" the pink haired girl demanded furiously. "What is wrong with you?!"

"If you're threatened, you take the asshole out. You don't just stand there and let him put his hands all over you."

She stared in shock at Sasuke's poorly timed reprimand. "Are you serious? Are you _serious,_ Sasuke-kun!? You want to lecture me about _that_!?"

"I've seen you punch a city block in half. You can't push away some idiot who corners you?"

"He's my _friend!_ "

"He crossed the line!"

"Kiba almost died during that mission! He's not thinking clearly right now. He's vulnerable!"

The Uchiha snorted incredulously. "That's not an excuse."

"I was trying to handle the situation without hurting him!"

"And it almost got him killed by _me_. If he touches you like that again I'll snap his neck, Sakura. So _do something_ about it next time."

She couldn't help but stutter at his disturbingly endearing statement. "Why are you–!? You're acting like–! You're such a–!"

"Busy guy." Sasuke snapped, cutting her off, "I know. And I don't have time to babysit, so use your head."

As his black eyes averted, his hand rose. The middle and index fingers of his hand pushed with emphasis against Sakura's forehead as he tore from the room, leaving her stranded in utter disbelief.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This work was inspired by an unpublished chapter from "Ricochet" (my SasuSaku project on hold) where there's a bit more context to Kiba's relationship with Sakura.


	3. The Kanibaru

**The Kanibaru**

 **Prompt:** carnival  
 **Summary:** At an abandoned amusement park, Sakura's more troubled by Naruto's ghost story than she lets on. But Sasuke notices.

* * *

Sakura Haruno flinched as her teammate trailing behind happily snapped a twig mid-step. In the throes of complete eerie silence the sound's origin amplified a variety of uncomfortable possibilities.

Ghosts being the first thing that came to mind thanks to a certain loud-mouth's penchant for unnecessary story-telling.

She whirled to glare daggers at Naruto Uzumaki who couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the bewildered look on the pink-haired girl's face.

"What?" her blonde friend asked. "I stepped on a twig, Sakura-chan. _Relax_!"

"I am relaxed!" Sakura hissed back. "You're making too much noise!"

"That was nothing!"

They were interrupted by the deep voice of their third teammate up ahead. "Both of you. Keep it down."

Naruto rolled his eyes, and gave a gentle squeeze to Sakura's shoulder as he moved to catch up to Sasuke Uchiha. "Seriously," he whispered. "Relax."

Sakura exhaled deeply. She was actually trying her best to relax. Reunited Team 7 was on an important mission to track and arrest a shinobi who had defected from the Hidden Leaf Village. The shinobi was found guilty for countless acts of treason and murder and had somehow escaped his prison cell.

Several days of tracking had led them to the Kanibaru, an abandoned, off the grid children's amusement park which was thought to have been completely demolished years ago.

It hadn't been a big deal at first. A rotting stuffed animal here, a rusted carousel there, it was what was to be expected of any unmaintained facility after years of neglect. But why had it been completely deserted? And why did she have to ask the question out loud to Naruto's waiting answer?

"You know what I heard about this place," the blonde chimed in lowly. "One of the workers dropped their metal cooking pot down the wishing well." He pointed casually to the uneven cobblestone structure coming up in their pathway. "But he was too lazy to go down and get it. He paid a child, a young boy visiting the park, to climb down and get it for him. But the kid slipped and fell all the way to the bottom. He likely smashed his head."

Sakura's green eyes widened. "Oh no… That's awful!"

Up ahead, Sasuke snorted incredulously, but didn't comment.

"The man panicked and ran, " Naruto continued, "The poor kid died and nobody knew where he went. All they knew is he disappeared at the Kanibaru and the park was held responsible."

"If nobody knew he died in the well, dobe," Sasuke finally intervened, "How are you telling us this story?"

The blonde folded his arms and defiance. "That's just how these things work, teme!"

"Is that how the park closed down?" Sakura asked in earnest, genuinely engaged with her teammate's tale.

Happy to be taken seriously, the boy gladly continued. "Not exactly. They lost customers, and the park lost funding, but it managed to remain open."

"Then…?"

"It was the _ghost_."

Sasuke's sharp commentary intervened once more. "Give me a break…"he murmured through gritted teeth. _"_ The escapee's suppressing his chakra, but it's somewhere here. Stay alert."

Nobody seemed to be listening to the Uchiha prodigy however.

"Ghost?" Sakura echoed, her rational side began to surface immediately. "Yeah, right, Naruto."

"That's the story!" Naruto exclaimed. "After the boy's disappearance, the people working late at night started hearing bizarre things over their radios." He gestured briefly to the tiny two-way radio located at his ear. "Like a child's laughter."

A brief chill elevated its way up Sakura's spine, but she managed to roll her eyes in disbelief. "No way."

"Serious! It would be the sound of a kid laughing. And when they removed their radios, the laughter would continue all around them until they left the park. Nobody wanted to work here anymore. The place fell apart."

"It was probably just the poor economy!"

"When it wasn't laughter," Naruto pressed on with a devilish glint in his eye. "It would be the kid saying, _'get me out of heeeeere!'_ "

A loud snap was heard behind them at that moment. All three shinobi were ready with weapons in hand as they turned to face the source of the sound.

"Come out!" Naruto ordered immediately.

They were surrounded in darkness. Nightfall had taken over during their entrance to the dilapidated carnival grounds. There was only silence in response.

"Rodent," Sasuke concluded evenly while lowering his kunai.

"How do you–?" the blonde started before turning to see the red and purple ambient glow of Sasuke's left and right eyes. "Oh."

And so the search continued on. Gradually, as the seemingly made-up facets of Naruto's ghost story repeated in her head, Sakura found herself more hyper-vigilant than usual.

It didn't help to see the rows of deserted prize toys in the game booths. Rows of dolls, filthy and weathered, watching with empty glass eyes as they made their way past. A passing breeze caused rusted swing chains to creak and shudder in the darkness.

Sakura gave herself a quiet moment to remind herself that she was an adult. Adults didn't get scared from stupid children's stories about otherworldly nonsense. She looked ahead with resolve. The boys were fine. Sasuke kept focused on the mission: quietly checking each booth and covered attraction with stealth and tenacity. Naruto was off to the side, checking the insides of ride carts, the look on his face was completely at ease.

She exhaled deeply once more, and stopped to pause at the base of what was once a proud, pristine ferris wheel. The slight breeze caused several of the carts at the top to sway. All but one. Sakura narrowed her eyes at this; it was possible the cart was bearing some kind of weight, making it hard-pressed to move as freely as the others surrounding it.

Clearing her throat, she caught the attention of Sasuke. With a tilt of her chin towards the top of the ferris wheel, the Uchiha read her intentions. He nodded for her to proceed.

Sakura began to ascend the ferris wheel with all the fluidity and grace of a seasoned kunoichi; jumping with feather-like movements from one cart to the next. As she neared the top, she readied her kunai. The escapee was suppressing his chakra surprisingly well, but as Sakura edged closer, she began to sense the muted chakra spike of someone close by.

She steadied her breathing, doing her best to mute the approach of her own chakra signature. The cart she balanced on still swayed under her light-weight form, but the kunoichi wasn't the least bit deterred as she gripped her kunai and prepared to lunge forward.

" _GET ME OUT OF HERE!_ " a high voice suddenly hissed in her ear.

Sakura couldn't help the scream that escaped her as she stumbled forward into the cart she had prepared to ambush.

She scrambled to right herself and sat up quickly to face her attacker, kunai snapped into position to defend herself. But all she found was the questionable raise of Sasuke's eyebrow as he stared down at her.

"What?" he demanded. "What happened?"

At the sound of Sakura's scream, Sasuke had teleported himself to her whereabouts, finding her uncharacteristically out of sorts.

"I-I heard…!" she stuttered, but there was no need for further explanation. A burst of laughter, very familiar laughter, coming from behind Sasuke quickly solved the mystery.

Naruto, barely containing himself, chuckled heartily, albeit somewhat apologetically. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan! I couldn't help myself!"

"NARUTO!" Sakura immediately saw red as quickly as her face flushed the same colour. She rose quickly to strangle the blonde idiot.

"Your mom warned me about telling you ghost stories!" Naruto teased as he darted away from Sakura's menacing grip. "She even said you're afraid of the dark!"

With the embarrassed glow on Sakura's face getting worse, Sasuke caught hold of her wrist before she could smash the ferris wheel to pieces with the three of them fated to perish in the rubble. He decided not to bring attention to the fact that the idiot's little prank had gotten the best of her too easily. If anything, he found himself strangely interested in the comment made by Sakura's mother as there was very little he knew about his teammate's childhood before Team 7.

Sasuke put his curiosity aside and glared at the blonde for wasting time. "Knock it off, dobe."

Naruto laughed with the intention of never doing so. He folded his arms, "Oh come on, it was funny! Sakura-chan, your eyes went as big as dinner plates!"

"That so wasn't funny," Sakura snapped darkly. Though in the midst of her rage, she suddenly became acutely aware of the grip Sasuke still maintained on her wrist. Warmth continued to flush her face for another reason.

"The shinobi's probably heard us all by now," Sasuke growled with impatience. "Enough of this. Let's keep moving."

The three members of Team 7 regrouped at the bottom of the ferris wheel, Sakura shoving Naruto playfully to the side as he continued to muffle his laughter. Sasuke's glare alone voiced his annoyance as he lead the way through the remainder of the shattered dreamland.

At the center of the park, the team decided to split up. Sasuke would take on the rails of the bending, wooden roller coaster, Naruto would go through the infinite number of empty food stalls, and Sakura would move forward into the House of Mirrors ahead.

Sakura took her instruction with a steady nod, and stopped at the doorway of the pitch black fortress before her. She had to relax. Breathe. There was nothing to be afraid of. Her nerves had been jangled from Naruto's silly prank, but so what? She could do this, walk headfirst into the dark unknown, like she had done so many times before in different scenarios.

She hesitated crossing the threshold. So why was this different? Damnit, she berated internally, there was no ghost! Naruto probably made up the whole thing!

"Sakura," called Sasuke's voice suddenly.

She swallowed hard, hoping Sasuke hadn't noticed her sudden frustrating lack of confidence. She turned to face the boy expectantly.

His features were darkened by the shadows, but none of that could blot out how ridiculously handsome the boy was in any circumstance. The sound of her name from his voice never failed to rally the butterflies in her stomach, whether or not it was coming from a good place did little to deter their excitement. In this case, she expected him to tell her to stop being so damn childish, that she was a fool for having thought that a ghost had scared her at the top of that ferris wheel.

She waited for the blow, but Sasuke only watched her silently. His expression scrutinized as if trying to solve a difficult puzzle.

The Uchiha then stalked toward her with purpose, grabbing a stick as he passed a nearby pile of rubble, and a stuffed toy from the ground in his path.

Sakura could only watch with shocked perplexity as Sasuke casually stabbed the stuffed animal onto the sharper end of the stick and held it out for her to receive.

Blinking, the kunoichi robotically took the stick and scrunched her face with confusion. "Usually flowers are the way to a girl's heart…" she giggled with uncertainty.

The Uchiha's dark eyes widened marginally at her comment before he scoffed at her with a sharp exhale.

Raising two fingers to his mouth, Sasuke lit the stuffed animal on fire with a simple utterance of " _Katon._ "

The flame's glow illuminated the space around them, casting the pair in a warm orange light. When she realized the purpose of Sasuke's morbid gesture, she couldn't help the grateful half-smile that took over her features.

"If the shinobi's inside, he'll find me for sure," Sakura quietly remarked as she happily admired the makeshift torch in her hands.

"I'll catch up soon," Sasuke answered stoically, marking her comment as irrelevant. He left abruptly to begin his search of the roller coaster.

With a ridiculous smile on her face, Sakura turned back to face the vast shambles of the Kanibaru's House of Mirrors with renewed spirit, watching and rotating the flaming stuffed toy before her eyes.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The ghost story Naruto mentions is a real one I heard during a walking tour in Victoria


	4. Truth or Dare

**Truth or Dare**

 **Prompt:** the games we play  
 **Summary:** A simple game to pass the time before a mission literally blows up in their faces

* * *

"Hey, Sasuke-kun," Sakura yawned as she wearily watched the shifting tree branches in the distance. With the wind participating as much as it was, it was becoming difficult to decipher nature from the anticipated horde of would-be assassins.

She didn't wait for an answer from her teammate perched close by. "Truth or dare?"

Sasuke sat several shingles away, eyes scanning the trees surrounding the luxurious mansion they were guarding. "Neither," the Uchiha ground out. "Stay focused."

"I am," Sakura answered simply, having developed an immunity to Sasuke's hard outer shell. "I've been focused for the past 24 hours and I don't intend to stop. Truth or dare?"

His head tilted sparingly in her direction. She was met with annoyed swirls of purple and red. "Is this a game to you?"

"Isn't it obvious that it is? C'mon, Sasuke-kun, we've been sitting in silence for days, can you humour me? Look, I'll go first."

The pink-haired girl cleared her throat, and straightened her posture, "I pick truth. Ask me anything."

"Fine," Sasuke snapped begrudgingly. "Why are you doing this?"

She ignored the ridicule from his deep, velvety voice. With a finger to her chin, Sakura pretended to ponder deeply. "Because I'm bored and I'm actually starting to miss the way Naruto doesn't shut up. Now, truth or dare, Sasuke-kun?"

The Uchiha sighed, and with a careless wave of his hand, temporarily surrendered his resistance. "Truth."

Delighted, she did her best to keep a straight face. "What do you _really_ think of this mission?" Sakura asked eagerly.

The question did little to phase Sasuke as he returned his hardened stare to the forrest. "What does that mean?"

"It means," she rolled her eyes, as if it were obvious. "This whole protecting Soma the war lord from assassins. You read the parchment outlining our next mission right?"

Indeed this was a conflicting assignment, handed off by a their former Team 7 leader who was now the sixth Hokage of Konoha. Soma had hired shinobi from the Hidden Leaf to protect him after several assassination attempts on his life. It was to be expected. Soma was responsible for the deaths of hundreds in his despicable tirade and everything was slowly catching up to him as he grew older. The task of bodyguarding Soma was assigned to Sakura and Sasuke, and accepted without too much argument. The money would be beneficial to the slow rebuilding of their village, their Hokage shrugged.

But it was the cheeky apologetic laugh of Kakashi, as he handed the pair their next mission briefing, that had them drowning in scepticism. This other mission was to be conducted several months later. And they were to assassinate Soma the war lord themselves. It all seemed like one big oversight on Kakashi's part but he maintained his optimism for both outcomes.

"It doesn't matter what we think," Sasuke commented dryly. "It's just one mission to the next."

Sakura cleared her throat sharply. "You picked _truth,_ " she reminded.

The prodigy went silent for a moment, and she feared he was not going to indulge her any further. The anticipation of his rejections always made her perspire with embarrassment.

"We're wasting our time," Sasuke finally revealed, and Sakura felt relief cool the anxious warmth that had enveloped her. Finally, she was getting somewhere with this pastime.

"I pick truth!" she announced giddily "Ask me something."

The red and purple shades of his eyes slid to meet hers. "What would you have us do?"

Sakura couldn't help blushing as the question without context brought up several romantic scenarios in her head. What _wouldn't_ she have them do?

"You mean," she began with a nervous giggle, " _Us_ , like, right now… or…?"

"The mission," Sasuke clarified impatiently. "It seems you don't agree with it. So what would you have us do?"

Her insides fell, chastising her silly childhood obsession for resurfacing. "I guess I'd allow the assassination attempt to succeed…"

The Uchiha smirked at this. "And the funding needed for Konoha?"

She wasn't deterred by the condescending look on his face. "I suppose it depends on what we should value more," Sakura explained evenly. "Do we keep a dangerous man alive a little longer to get Konoha built just a little faster…? Or do we end Soma a little sooner so he can't terrorize hundreds a little earlier? Personally, I'd pick the lives of others in a heartbeat."

The smirk vanished as Sasuke watched her in silence for a moment, expression unreadable, but that was nothing new.

She smiled back softly at him. "Truth or dare?"

He didn't hesitate this time. "Truth."

"Am I wrong?"

Sasuke's expression didn't change, but with the tight press of his mouth, it looked as if he were debating something in his head.

Sakura continued to smile, bright green eyes downcast to scan their surroundings. "They're here," she announced nonchalantly. They're not suppressing their chakra well."

The Uchiha stood, resting a hand on the hilt of his Kusanagi. "They're spreading out and hovering at all the entrances."

Moving with lightening speed across the lengthy rooftop, the pair reached the edge but Sasuke paused before dropping lower.

"You're not wrong," he told Sakura mutedly, surprising her. "But we have a mission to complete. This is our way, and that was our choice. We're here to stop them."

His pink-haired teammate nodded solemnly. "I understand." She began moving toward the far right side of the rooftop. "They're still trying to gain access. One assassin pre entrance, six total. I'll cut off the ones at the side of the house and we'll—"

The both of them stopped at the same time, sensing a sudden dramatic change in the air below them.

"They're… leaving?" Sakura wondered.

Chakra signatures began to scatter from the mansion as quickly as they had arrived.

Sasuke didn't answer, instead his eyes frantically searched the infrastructure for something they might've missed.

" _Sakura!_ "

All she heard before the sudden collision into her body was the strange call of her name, as if something horrible dawned on Sasuke midway through uttering it.

With an arm twisting around her waist, Sasuke slammed into Sakura as he hurdled them both off the roof as quick as humanly possible. The explosion that followed nearly burned her vision a blinding white as the cascading flames chased after them. The sound was deafening. Debris pushed past their bodies through the fall. Glass and wood splinters rained down with assaulting speed before they tumbled into the earth. The roof they were perched on no longer existed.

Sakura saw the sky first, illuminated by the glow of Soma's mansion up in flames. Determined or not, the war lord's current existence was bleak. She coughed violently, the smoke from the blast stifling the air. She lay on her back for a few more seconds, completely dazed and unprepared to face the reality of the injuries she may have suffered. As the reality of the situation set in, Sakura's eyes widened.

She struggled to turn to her side, but her coughing refused to let up. "S-Sasuke-kun…!" she finally managed to choke out.

The groan beside her was a beaten, reassuring one. Tilting her head the side, and extremely grateful her neck was still functioning, she found Sasuke lying on his back beside her. He was sitting up slowly, pulling bits of broken glass from his arm as he did so.

"Didn't think they had the means to create explosives like that," he grimaced. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sakura answered stubbornly as she finally managed to roll to her side. A sharp pain was radiating up her leg. Her discomfort came out in strangled gasps as she searched her body for injuries, finding what felt to be a large piece of wood stabbed into her thigh.

With a loud curse, Sasuke pulled the last shard of glass from his side and allowed himself to collapse back down. Sakura did the same, rolling back to face the lukewarm sky above. Their breathing was laboured and hoarse, but thankfully calming down.

"Truth or dare?" Sakura asked weakly, as she began to concentrate healing chakra to her hands.

"Truth," Sasuke grunted.

"Do you… do you think we'll at least get paid for the second mission?"

He smirked. And she giggled lightly, although it was extremely painful to do so.

"Pick truth," he said seriously, without initiative.

Green eyes regarded him with curiosity. "Truth," she obliged.

"Are you really okay?"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh then for some silly, displaced reason. The act was debilitating, but worth it. "Never been better, Sasuke-kun."

"Liar."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This is the fourth day in a row I've written a short-story and I feel as though the quality was starting to decline in this one. The prompt was very open to me and sometimes too much freedom leaves me stumped. Anyway, it's hard to imagine I'll be able to do this 27 more times in a row. I might slow down a bit and start submitting 1-2 times per week. Depends on how the prompt inspires me I guess. Thank you for all the kind reviews!


	5. The Interrogation

The Interrogation

Summary: How Sasuke deals with an assassination attempt on Sakura's life. Not well.

* * *

Rough fingers curled in anticipation as the distinct crack of Sasuke Uchiha's knuckles filled the ominous silence.

A man sat cuffed to the chair before him, spitting blood for the umpteenth time onto the dingy tiled floor at his feet. His spiked brown hair began to matte from the profuse blood and sweat escaping his mangled body.

"I'll ask again..." Sasuke growled impatiently, pacing the dimly lit interrogation room.

Sakura Haruno stood several feet away, watching with increased worry at the slow rise of Sasuke's temper.

The man in question was heavy in build; muscular, dangerous, but not too smart of an assassin.

Sakura had been heading home from the usual late-shift at the Konoha hospital. She knew something was slightly amiss. She had smelt it in the wind, felt the tension at her core. Perhaps a normal person would've slated it to pure paranoia, but her instincts knew better: she was being followed.

It had been well after midnight and the sky's blackness, once soothing, was suddenly deafening as she maintained her composure and walked wistfully away toward her street. She almost rolled her eyes at the amount of time it was taking for this plan, whatever it was, to come to fruition.

No sooner had Sakura walked under a tree-laden path than she felt the defining shift in the air.

 _Finally_ , she thought as she grabbed the kunai strapped to her thigh holster and derailed the impact slamming into her from the trees.

The brown-haired man cursed as he was hurled to the ground by one graceful gesture. Quick to recover, he scrambled to his feet immediately, massive form looming over the small kunoichi.

Sakura remained nonplussed. "You're following me," she stated.

He dusted himself off, trying his best to intimidate. "And now I'm going to kill you," the man answered gruffly. He barrelled forward, brandishing a kunai of his own.

Sparks flew as their weapons crashed angrily, but Sakura easily held her own. "Who sent you?" she demanded through gritted teeth.

He responded by swiping the air by her ear as the pink-haired girl dodged the attack.

Sakura flipped backwards to maintain distance. "Who wants me dead?" she tried again.

The man roared his frustration as he relentlessly charged his target. He was clearly not interested in having a conversation. She would admit that he was highly trained as a ninja, but was not openly displaying his forehead protector so she could deduce his origins. He was good, sure, but she was better.

He cursed again as Sakura managed another clean swipe to his shoulder with her blade. It wasn't going well for him; for every cut he managed against the kunoichi, she sliced him back threefold.

They moved back from each other, the man panting heavily. "Bitch. I'm done playing nice."

Sakura assessed the thin lines of blood down her shoulder, choosing to ignore the disparaging remark. Instead, she brushed the small amount of sweat collecting on her brow and sighed. "If you want to live, tell me who sent you."

" _'If you want to live'..._ " the unknown ninja mocked with exaggeration. "I've know all about you, Princess. You're all about saving lives. We can dance around like this all night but we both know you'll be dead before me."

Sakura brilliant green eyes had narrowed at the assumption. "You don't know anything about me..."

He snorted. "C'mon, Dr. Haruno. You're not going to kill me so-!"

"She won't have to," a dark voice interrupted suddenly.

The man's form went ridged and Sakura's eyes widened. She looked around the assassin to find her teammate Sasuke standing nonchalantly behind the other male, Kusanagi blade pressed dangerously into the back of his throat.

And it was that faint glow of her teammate's purple and red eyes promising an eternity of torture that subdued the man into compliance. Physical compliance, anyway. Once Sasuke dragged him to the Konohagakure Intelligence Division where Ibiki Morino conducted his interrogations there was no getting a coherent answer from the man.

"...Who sent you?" Sasuke continued as he rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt.

The man grinned smugly, blood seeping through the cracks of his teeth. His jaw was given another swift hit from the Uchiha's fist.

Reeling, the man winced and spat another round of fresh blood to the floor, the rattle of a tooth tagging along making Sakura internally cringe.

"My boss, you fucker!"

"No shit," Sasuke growled, as he fisted the man's collar. "Who _is_ your boss? Give me a name."

"You keep hitting me I won't be able to talk!"

The kunoichi spoke up softly. "Idiot. If you don't talk then he'll keep hitting you."

Sasuke remained persistent. "Why are they after Sakura?"

Through swollen eyes, the man winked at the pink-haired girl standing across the room. She glared back in return. "Because they'd like to fuck her!" he chuckled mirthlessly.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but missed the immediate glare on the Uchiha's face as he violently yanked at the man's collar.

"Don't look at her, look at _me,_ " Sasuke hissed, black eyes on the verge of changing colour. "Why are they after her?" He twisted hard at the fabric, cutting off the man's oxygen. "And don't fuck with us."

Smartening up, the man did not miss the murderous intent saturating his captor's eyes. "Because...!" he choked, "...because she's the new head of the Antidote Research Centre. Thought that'd be pretty damn obvious! A-Aren't you suppose to be some kind of genius!? "

Sakura sighed angrily, rubbing her fingers tiredly between her eyes. "Okay... Sasuke-kun-"

"Don't interrupt," Sasuke ordered, tone steady for her sake.

Indignant, Sakura exhaled shortly. But there something about the tension in Sasuke's broad shoulders that kept her from arguing. She had meant to say that they were going nowhere for now. It _was_ pretty damn obvious that every gang leader, warlord or even village leader with the hope of gaining leverage through deadly toxins would want her out of the picture. Unless they were aligned with Konoha, literally any other corrupt party could come after her. This was only the beginning. And she knew that. And she was just fine with that. But clearly Sasuke was still hellbent on getting the specifics...

"I want the name," the Uchiha continued on.

"And people in Suna want ice water," laughed the other ninja.

A quick fist to the gut, followed by the sickening sound of ribs breaking, sent the brown-haired ninja doubling over for air. "Fuck... you..." the man gasped.

"The name."

"What the fuck does it matter? The word's out that Konoha's secret little super brain can render all poisons useless! My boss is only one of fucking hundreds that want her dead!"

"Of course..." Sakura murmured sadly.

Sasuke scowled, unimpressed. "And I'll handle it," he concluded, as he gripped the man's handcuffed wrist. "But I'll handle yours first."

The brown-haired ninja's eyes went wide as if unable to register what was happening. "What are you-!" but he was cut off by his own scream of pain as Sasuke's grip slowly broke the bones in his wrist.

Sakura knew then that the simple interrogation was quickly getting the better of her teammate. She had been watching nervously with a clenched fist to her heart and decided it was time to intervene. "Sasuke-kun..." she called, but her objecting voice was drowned out by the scream ripping from the captured ninja's throat.

"Give. Me. The name." Sasuke demanded again through clenched teeth, bones snapping like twigs under his grip.

"It's Saburou!" the ninja finally shrieked. "He's a—he's the newest crime lord in Amegakure, okay!?"

The black-haired prodigy seemed to consider the information, making mental notes whilst pulverizing the limb in his grip to dust.

"Sasuke-kun, that's enough!" Sakura ordered sharply as she gripped the Uchiha's shoulder.

"I told you everything!" the man begged through anguish. His pleading brown eyes shot to Sakura. "Call off your dog!"

"What did I tell you?" Sasuke reprimanded darkly, snapping the ninja's attention back to him. Once the man's wrist vaguely resembled crushed rocks under his fingers, the Uchiha slowly became aware of the slender hand touching his arm.

His glare slid over his shoulder to his petite pink-haired teammate standing beside him. Her expressive green eyes burned into his with disapproval.

"That's enough, okay?" Sakura said calmly.

He held her gaze for a brief moment before he released the ninja's useless limb with a smirk. "It's your lucky day," he drawled, eyes bleeding to two deadly shades of red and purple. The captured ninja instantly went limp as the power of Sasuke's eyes knocked him out cold, a merciful gesture given the amount of pain he was due for.

There was another brief pause before the Uchiha cracked his knuckles reflexively and rolled back the muscles in his shoulder unperturbed.

Sakura couldn't help the baffled, humourless laugh that escaped her. "What was that really necessary?"

Annoyed, the arrogant prodigy merely shrugged. "We got who sent him."

"Yes," she agreed, "but you still shattered his hand!"

His meaningful stare unnerved her as he approached steadily with purpose. This impossible man, Sakura thought warily. She expected a snide remark, a condescending smirk... but he stopped a foot away, eyes wandering down the several cuts that marred her arm and shoulder. The look in his eyes told her he felt more than justified.

"He tried to kill you."

Memory of the attack left Sakura unsettled, but unconcerned. "I know, Sasuke-kun. It won't be the first time."

"I told you to lay low," he lectured. "I could've looked out for you."

"You _did_ ," Sakura reminded, "but you didn't have to. I can take care of myself. I knew what would happen when I made those discoveries in the lab. And I'm not afraid of the consequences."

Her response vaguely disturbed him. Sasuke was far from done telling her to be more careful, but at the same time, he couldn't help feeling impressed by her hardened resolve. Of course, he knew she would've been fine, with or without his help. But he always insisted on providing a small measure of assistance. This was his loyalty to her, as her teammate, as a means to earn her respect after years of letting her down. And this was the reason he repeated in his head when his actions regarding Sakura inexplicably overreacted.

"Just be careful, alright?" Sasuke conceded begrudgingly. "Keep me informed."

She smiled warmly at him, a sight that never failed to throw the stoic Uchiha off guard. "I promise. C'mon, let's go report to Kakashi-sensei."

He nodded, throwing one last glare at the unconscious captive before opening the heavy iron door for Sakura to proceed.

* * *

Author's Note: Something quick. Inspired by my need for a tough Sasuke ;)


End file.
